The city, where there is no shortage of free nature and space between houses and streets, is hosting hundreds of thousands of tourists again this summer. Summer exhibitions, open-air concerts and cinema screenings – this is why tourists crave in Cēsis this year as well.
This summer, the Cēsis Art Festival has already brought spectators and listeners to the city in the first two days of the weekend. The creators of the program had made sure that the visitors did not have to go anywhere. The former canning factory on Raina Street with its spacious two-storey premises and terrace on the roof of the factory has once again become the bridgehead of a large, contemporary summer exhibition. Exhibitions “The sound we see. The Space We Hear ”curators Daiga Rudzāte and Žanete Skarule in the spring, during an emergency situation, set aside the large exhibition already prepared for Cēsis and planned a completely different exhibition.
The curators invited Latvian artists to work on new ideas. The result is summarized in the message “The sound we see, the space we hear”. The artists of the dark rooms of the exhibition have made the white hall on the second floor soundless, but it is a deceptive first impression, because a listening hall has been created. White, bird-cage-like sound sources seem invisible to the visitors of the exhibition only at the beginning with their eyes and ears. All you have to do is take a look at those who are next door, they have already discovered in the spacious hall where to listen. And art in hand – how to see the hidden.
This year, the focus of the Cesis Art Festival is sound. The trio of artists Krišs Salmanis, Kristaps Ģelzis and Ģirts Bišs have cleverly solved the topic. Surprising with a fan placed in the lantern pole in the yard of the exhibition. This work of art can be started by walking along Raina Street and sending a text message by phone. The lantern turns out to be a source of music, reminiscent of the popular laser boxes of the early 20th century.
The team of the creators of the Cesis Art Festival program has not changed. It will create unusual solutions in the urban environment like every summer. The visitors of the festival in Cēsis are already used to the extraordinary solutions. Now it can be said that last summer there was a successful training to make the festival of sound, light and color in Cēsis only richer. A concert on the river was also held in this summer’s program, and it was visually complemented by nature itself. Gauja near Cesis is a real artist.
“The main thing is that nothing will be remote and digital at the Cēsis Art Festival,” emphasizes the festival’s director Juris Žagars, emphasizing the essentials: “Everything will be in person and with real works of art, events, while taking precautions and epidemiological instructions for cultural events. The festival has always been nuanced, in a large area, it has never been characterized by irrational crowding. ”
The first days confirmed this. According to the time, opportunities are given in Cēsis. Students of the Academy of Arts are given the opportunity to show their works in the festival and in a real exhibition hall – on the 1st floor of the Vidzeme Concert Hall.
The youth choir “Kamēr” and conductor Aivis Greters gave the first concert of the art festival on a summer night, located on a stage built in the middle of the Gauja. The choir girls reached the platform with the help of a raft. The Gauja stream carried not only water, but also choir girls and their singing. The choir guys rented boats upstream. The young people met on a dark river, the stage was in the spotlight. The calm of the waters and the forest on the night of July was so clear that every note written by Pēteris Vasks, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Rihards Dubras, Andris Dzenītis, Selga Mence and Valts Pūce on the sheet music pages reached the audience. The concert on the darkening Gauja beach, full of Latvianness and youthful power, gave the listeners the harmony of both nature and souls.
The next concert of the festival will be a choral music concert. In the vaults of St. John’s Church. The Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Sigvards Kļava, organist Kristīne Adamaite and harpist Jekaterina Suvorova have prepared the sacred music of the classic Anton Bruckner for the art festival.
The biggest open-air event at the festival is scheduled for August, when Dmitry Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto will take place in the Castle Park, characterized by a rich and ingenious use of musical quotes and parodies. Virtuoso pianist Reinis Zariņš is invited to play in Cēsis Park.
As in other years, this summer the paths of art lovers will lead to the theater performances of the art festival. Critic Zane Radzobe has determined which performances should be performed because they are at a high level. Until now, Silvija Radzobe recommended the festival, but now a daughter has been invited to replace her. Thanks to the work of an outstanding critic and special support to Cēsis, giving lectures on theatrical art to visitors, a special event is planned for the festival. A basketball game will take place with the participation of actors.
Cēsis Art Festival has just started, it will continue!
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